Written in 60 minutes.

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Monday, September 23, 2024

 Port Charles High: Main Office

Elizabeth tugged open one of the double doors leading into the high school’s main office and stopped when she saw Jake slouched in a chair outside the assistant principal’s office, an ice pack pressed to his lip. Next to him, Danny had an identical pack of ice against his cheek, and his right eye was starting to bruise.

“Hey, Mom.” Jake straightened. “Look, we match.” He removed the pack and gestured to his split lip. Elizabeth folded her arms, narrowed her eyes, and her son sighed, slouching back down. “Tough crowd—ow.”

“Mr. Bryan will be right with you,” the secretary said. “He’s talking to the third boy and his father—” She stopped talking, looking behind Elizabeth who turned to find Jason entering through the same door. “And I suppose that’s Mr. Morgan. I’ll let Mr. Bryan know all the parents are accounted for.”

Danny scowled. “Rocco’s probably blaming me, and okay, I started it, but he really—”

“Stop talking,” Jason ordered, coming up next to Elizabeth.

“It’s not the interrogation room, Dad. Relax. Danny and Rocco will get a vacation, not a prison sentence—” Jake closed his mouth when his father shot him a dark look. “Shutting up.”

“Mr. Morgan, Ms. Webber—” a tall man who seemed to be a decade younger than Elizabeth stepped up to the doorway. “Why don’t we all come inside and have a conversation? That is, if our younger Mr. Morgan can handle himself.”

“Hey, tell younger Mr. Falconieri not to say shit about my mother, and I’ll handle myself just fine,” Danny retorted, getting to his feet. The principal’s expression darkened. “Oh, right. Language. Sorry. Not really, but I can’t get in any more trouble, can I?”

“Let’s not find out,” Mr. Bryan said, stepping to the side so that the quartet could file in. Dante was standing by Rocco who was sprawled in a chair of his own by the principal’s desk, holding a towel to his nose, his cheek and lip already swollen. “We have a zero tolerance policy with violence, so Rocco and Daniel will be suspended. I’m afraid that’s not open to debate.”

“And Jake?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“The teacher says it appears Jake was trying to break up the fight and received his injuries as a result. Still, as he became physically involved, he’ll also be serving a suspension—”

“Oh, come on. That’s bullshit,” Jake snapped, shifting his ice pack. “Ronnie Stinson groped a girl and didn’t even get a detention. I’m sorry I don’t play for the goddamn football team, but I actually got these idiots to stop trying to kill each other. You’re welcome, by the way.” He slapped the pack against his mouth again.

Elizabeth cleared her throat, folded her arms, and looked at the principal who seemed a little taken aback. “I understand you have a policy, but Jake has a point. He was trying to help, and since this happened in their industrial arts class — there were so many dangerous tools—”

“I wasn’t gonna actually shove his hand in the scroll saw,” Rocco muttered. “I just threatened to. He deserves it. Snitch.”

“Asshole.” Danny’s leg shot out and snagged Rocco in the shins, and Rocco started to lunge forward — probably to start the fight again, but Dante grabbed the back of his shirt and stopped him in motion.

“I think maybe you can decide Jake’s punishment later,” Dante said, his tone tight. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for these two idiots to be in the same room much longer. You move again, and you’ll be sorry,” he told Rocco who rolled his eyes.

Jason rolled his shoulders, clearly frustrated with the entire situation. “How long will he be suspended?”

“Since Daniel threw the first punch, we’re recommending ten days, and five for Rocco as he was responding.” Mr. Bryan eyed Jake with pursed lips. “I suppose since this is Jacob’s first offense, we can live with a one-day suspension and another of in-school when he returns.” He got to his feet. “And we’ll expect to have a discussion when Daniel returns about keeping them in the same elective. We can’t have this kind of behavior in that classroom.”

“Understood.” Dante tugged on Rocco’s arm. “Get up and start moving.”

“Off to grandmother’s house we go,” Rocco responded in a tone that had Dante’s expression turn positively thunderous.

Outside the school entrance, Elizabeth stopped to face her son who was still wincing., then looked at Danny. “I don’t even actually have the words for the behavior the two of you demonstrated in there. You know better than to speak to authority figures that way,” she told Jake who pressed his lips together. “I don’t care if he was wrong or unfair. And Danny—”

“Any chance you had of not getting double Rocco’s time was out the door the second you kicked him in front of the principal,” Jason bit out and Danny dipped his head. “I thought you were smarter than that.” He looked at Elizabeth. “I know you have to get back to work. I’ll take them home.”

“Okay.” She reached over, squeezed his hand. “I’ll see you when I’m done.” Tossing another disappointed look at both boys, she headed for her car, grateful she’d have time to cool off before she had to handle that situation — and didn’t envy Jason even a little bit.

“Dad,” Danny began but Jason just pointed at the car, and shook his head. “I’m sorry, does that matter?”

“Not right now. Go.” When Danny had started his trudge across the parking lot, Jason looked at his eldest son. “Your mom’s right. We might have avoided suspension at all if you’d kept quiet.”

“True, but I am my mother’s son. And my father’s son. So really, the choices were punching or using my smart mouth. I think we should all be grateful I let the maternal genes win.” Jake tried to smile, but Jason just stared at him. “Okay, maybe we’ll be in the mood to laugh about this later. Much later, obviously.”

District Attorney’s Suite: Robert’s Office

Robert smiled when Molly appeared in his doorway. “There’s a lovely smile to start the day. Have a seat—” He gestured at the seat across from him at the conference table. “What brings you by?”

“Not a particularly happy visit.” She slid into the chair, took a deep breath. “I know that I started this whole thing, and I stand by that decision — and my choice to ask Dante to join the investigation. But I had a conversation with Chase on Friday, and I think you would agree that it might be best if we both recused ourselves. Myself and Dante,” she added.

Robert’s smile faded and he sighed, rubbing the edge of his brow. “Yes, I’d considered asking that after I spoke to Detective Chase. We could seal off those avenues of investigation, keep you and Dante from knowing anything, but it would be simpler to remove you both. I’m willing to take point and I think Chase will be able to handle the investigation from here.” He tipped his head. “We won’t be able to tell you what evidence we develop—if any.”

“I know. But you’ll also be able to interview us, and we can serve as witnesses.” Molly folded her hands on the table, stared down at the wood grain. “I don’t know if they’re involved, but I can’t say for sure they’re not. And that troubles me. My sister — I could see her doing this. The murder. Acting on impulse. She’s a lot like her father — she sees herself as the main character in every story. All roads lead back to her. And she only really cares about herself.”

“Molly—”

“My mother will cover up anything for Kristina. She’s always run interference and held Kristina’s hand. And I wanted to say that I don’t think they’d frame anyone — but that’s just—” Molly faltered. “My mother sat by while Jason was arrested, tried, and convicted for the death of Luis Alcazar — a crime that she later plead not guilty to be reason of insanity.”

Robert sat back. “We’ve pulled the Alcazar case. There was an attempt to frame Jason and Brenda — but it came from other sources. At worst, your mother just didn’t come forward. This — this planting of a gun — that is a very different crime—”

“I know. And it’s what I’m clinging to, you know? I don’t think either of them would go to this lengths, but I also—” Molly exhaled slowly. “I also never thought my sister would draw up custody papers to take away the daughter she begged to carry for me. Or that my mother would help her. At the end of the day, what do we really know about one another?”

Laura & Kevin’s Condo: Living Room

“Ah, home sweet home,” Rocco said, dropping his backpack on the ground and sprawling back on the sofa. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Sit up,” Dante said flatly, kicking his son’s feet off the sofa. “You think this is funny?”

“It sure as shit ain’t sad.” Rocco folded his arms, hunched his shoulders. “Why don’t you go back to your crazy girlfriend? I heard she slugged Aunt Elizabeth in the face.” His smile was malicious. “I hope Aunt Liz kicked her ass.”

Dante scrubbed his hands down his face, sat on the armchair catty-corner to the sofa. “What do you want from me, Rocco? What am I supposed to do? Let you run around, smoking, drinking, getting in fights — you and Danny are best friends—”

“Not anymore.”

“Rocco.”

“I don’t want anything from you, Dad. You can’t give me what I want, anyway, so this conversation is just stupid. You gave my house to Maxie, so I can’t have that. Mom’s in a coma—” He hesitated, stared down at the floor. “And it’s probably not fair to ask you to break up with Sam or whatever.”

His father didn’t answer right, so Rocco lifted his gaze. “Dad?”

“You really don’t like her? Has it always been this way?” Dante tilted his head. “Was I that blind? Did I really miss something so big?”

Rocco grimaced, shifted on the sofa. “It wasn’t so bad at first,” he admitted. “But it got worse when Sam and Danny started fighting all the time. She was always on him, telling him he was her miracle, that it was, like, his duty to be better, to do better. And then he gets this—he gets a real miracle. He gets his dad back, and Sam makes it a miserable experience for him. If Mom came home, and you made it hard for me to see her, if you bitched about her all the time, I’d hate you, too.” He looked away, staring hard at the dark fireplace. “The first time we got drunk, Danny forgot about all of that for a little while. So we started doing it more. Every time you guys would start in on him about his grades or whatever — it was something we could that, like, was just ours. Aiden came along sometimes but it wasn’t his thing, I knew that. And when he didn’t want to, I didn’t make him or make fun of him or whatever. That’s shitty. But—” Rocco shrugged. “We were living a secret life you didn’t know anything about. And you didn’t notice. So we kept going bigger and stupider, I guess.”

“To see how much you could get away with,” Dante said, and Rocco jerked one shoulder up in a half-hearted shrug. “Okay. Well—” He waited. “I haven’t been happy with how Sam handled Jason’s return either. Maybe because I know something about thinking you have to go off and do something and leave your family to do it. I’m sorry that I didn’t see how much it affected you or Danny. That’s on me, and I can’t change it. All I can do is apologize.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“For what it’s worth, Sam and I have discussed temporarily separating for your sake,” Dante said, and Rocco blinked at him. “It’s hard because she’s going through something really awful, Rocco, losing her kids. And I feel guilty leaving someone I love in a situation like that. She’d be alone.”

“So? It’s her own fault. It is,” Rocco insisted. “You begged her to go easy on Jason, and Jason basically did everything she wanted for weeks, and it was never enough. She walked out on Danny, Dad! And, like, me and Danny were getting high down the hall from Scout! You were at work, okay, but Sam wasn’t. She works out of the penthouse. How come she never noticed what either of us were doing? We were coming home with blood shot eyes, and she never even looked at us. I’m not blaming just her, okay, I’m not. Because you suck, too. But it’s her fault, too. And, dude, Dad, she attacked Aunt Liz! She deserves what she gets. Danny’s better off with his dad.”

Dante lifted his brows. “I thought you and Danny weren’t friends anymore.”

Rocco scowled. “Don’t try to trick me. I’m right. You know I’m right.”

“All I know for sure is there are no easy answers, Rocco. No matter what I do, someone gets hurt. But if you tell me that you don’t want to live with Sam anymore, okay. We can find a place for you and me. But do you need me to break up with her? Is that what we’re talking about?”

Rocco opened his mouth, then closed it. “No, I guess not. You wanna date crazy, do it. But I don’t want to live with her anymore. I’m sorry. But like, I’m not either. You know?”

“Yeah. I do.” Dante got to his feet. “I’ll talk to your grandmother — you’re not going to be relaxing while you’re suspended. This isn’t a vacation. You’ve been acting like a moron, Rocco. And it stops now.”

Hanley Federal Building: U.S Attorney’s Offices

Gia knocked on Reynolds’ door, a file in her hand. “What is this analysis I’m reading of John Cates’ computer?”

Reynolds pushed away from his computer, furrowed his brow. “What?”

“John Cates. He was fabricating evidence against Jason Morgan — he was planning to set him up for an assault?” Gia scowled. “What the hell is this? He was a dirty agent?”

“We don’t know what he was intending to do with that voicemail,” Reynolds said carefully. “And keep your voice down—”

“Don’t tell me to keep my voice down. You knew the contents of his internet search history—how were you going to let me sign on a second chair without telling me that we had a compromised agent?” Gia slapped the file on his desk. “Do you have any idea what a headache this is going to be for the bureau when it gets out? All his cases are going to challenged — he was searching for the best ways to bruise yourself, Noah!”

Reynolds winced. “I know, but he was desperate. This was case was different—”

“No. No. No case is different enough that you forge evidence. And you damn well know it.” Gia shook her head. “I don’t like it. And I don’t like that you didn’t just tell me.”

“You’re right. You’re right.” Reynolds got to his feet, lifted his hand in mock surrender. “This has already started to get out — I’ve got a hearing in court tomorrow on another one of Cates’ cases, and that analysis was given to the attorney there by the local cops in Port Charles. I’m probably going to get my ass kicked on that case. ”

“Good. You should. This kind of agent gives us all a bad name.” Gia paused. “Wait. I thought  the Quartermaines’ injunction was due to be heard tomorrow—am I supposed to handle that?”

“Yes. And as a peace offering — your fresh eyes will be good. Caldwell is putting together an FBI search as soon as he can to go over property again. Why don’t you supervise?”

Gia hesitated, then nodded. “All right.” She started for the door, then turned back. “Is there anything else about this case I should know?”

“No.” Reynolds shook his head. “Not a single thing.”

“That better be true.”

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